Regional and local authorities

Dialogue between national, regional and local government will bring the EU’s priorities closer to people, strengthening the feeling of ownership needed to get everyone involved in moving Europe towards the 2020 targets.

In many EU countries, the regional or local authorities are responsible for policy areas linked to the Europe 2020 strategy such as education and training, entrepreneurship, labour market, infrastructure or energy efficiency.

It is crucial that all levels of governance be aware of the need to implement effectively the Europe 2020 strategy on the ground so as to achieve smart, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and that each plays its part in introducing the necessary changes.

The European Union's Committee of the Regions helps mobilising regional and local authorities. It has set up the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform comprising more than 150 regions and cities networking on growth and jobs, exchanging good practices and contributing to the EU debate on EUROPE 2020

To involve and enable local and regional authorities to contribute to achieving Europe 2020 goals , the European Commission too provides an online networking platform.

The "Handbook on the Europe 2020 strategy for cities and regions", drawn up by the Committee of the Regions in close cooperation with the European Commission, provides clear explanations on how local and regional authorities can contribute to the implementation of the strategy. It capitalises on examples of good practice collected through the surveys conducted by the CoR's Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform or existing databases of good practices managed by the European Commission.